Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Police are now engaged in a blame game after a woman was killed in cross-firing between Uttar Pradesh Police and alleged sand mafia in an Uttarakhand village.
Police of both the states have registered cross FIRs in connection with the incident in which five police personnel were also injured.
The clash between the police and locals took place when a Uttar Pradesh police team was chasing one Zafar Ali, said to be a mining mobster, at Bharatpur in Uttarakhand on Wednesday evening.
Zafar carries a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Moradabad range, Shalabh Mathur said the Moradabad police registered an FIR invoking several sections of the IPC that cover rioting, harbouring an offender, resisting arrest, attempt to murder, dacoity, causing hurt to public servant, criminal conspiracy and others against the residents of Bharatpur near Jaspur town of Uddham Singh Nagar district.
Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Hemant Kutiyal said the FIR was registered against Zafar, a wanted criminal, and 35 others who were not named. Meanwhile, Uddham Singh Nagar SSP Manjunath T.C. said the Uttarakhand Police have registered an FIR against 10 to 12 Uttar Pradesh Police personnel for murder and other relevant sections of the IPC, on the complaint of the deceased's husband lodged at the Kunda police station.
"The Uttar Pradesh Police had come here to nab a criminal who has a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head, but did not inform the local police about their arrival," the officer added.
He said the Uttar Pradesh Police from the Thakurdwara station in Moradabad district raided the farmhouse of Gurtaj Singh Bhullar, the block pramukh of Bharatpur, that falls under the Kunda police station upon information that Zafar was taking shelter there.
He added that Zafar was wanted in connection with illegal confinement and misbehaviour with Thakurdwara SDM Parmanand Singh and Mining Inspector Ashok Kumar on September 13.
The Moradabad SSP said Bhullar, his father Sukhbinder Singh a.k.a. Chindar Singh and two uncles Jagtar Singh and Satnam Singh Satta had long crime records.
Contradicting the Uttarakhand Police's claims, the SSP added that the Moradabad police had constantly kept their counterparts in the loop.
"When the Moradabad police team reached there, Zafar was taken into custody. The locals, later, forcibly took away Zafar from the police custody," he said.
Earlier, the Moradabad range DIG had said Zafar and his aides had crossed into the Uttarakhand border, and kept firing at the police team that was chasing them. "Five of our policemen were injured, two of them have been hit by bullets fired by the mafia and his aides. Three others were hurt in stone pelting. Besides, Ali and his aides outnumbered the Moradabad police and snatched their weapons," he added. —IANS